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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIOE.

MARION J. WELLMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BABY-JUMPER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,942, dated March 31, 1857.

To all whom z5 may concern.'

Be it known that I, MARION J. WELLMAN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Apparatus for Tending and Supporting Infants, which I denominate the Automatic Nurse; and I have herein described and ascertained the same, referring to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is an isometrical View of the apparatus in one form. Fig. 2, is a view of the folding stand or frame detached from the other parts.

My apparatus is made for the purpose of causing the infant to amuse itself either sitting or lying, so as to serve all the essential purposes of a `nurse to tend it, and thereby dispensing with the labor and time of tending a child by hand. In it t-he baby can move all its limbs with facility and it is not confined to one position, as it is in the well known Tuttles baby jumper, which proves so injurious to the infant by the constant retention of the body in a perpendicular position.

The construction of my apparatus is as follows:

I form a square or oblong frame a, a, which is supported in a horizontal position by posts or standards b, Z). This frame a is so jointed on twoopposite sides as to fold up, as more clearly seen in Fig. 2, where there are three hinged joints in each side piece with hooks or catches to hold them straight when in use as in Fig. l.

The frame as above described is portable and may be taken from nursery to drawing room or other part of the house, readily passing through doors when folded and then spread for use without trouble or defacing the ceiling of any of the rooms, as was required by all other former structures. To the angles of the four corners of the folding frame a, a, are hooks, to which spiral springs c are attached, the other ends of said springs being affixed tothe end of one arm of two bars d d, which cross each other at the center at right angles or nearly so. These bars d are fastened together at their junction by a pivot, so as to allow them to close up parallel when the frame is folded. To each end of these bars d there is a strap e afliXed that descends to and supports a seat e. The seat e has two openings through which the childs lower limbs are put and a band f passes around the body and is attached to the form supporting straps c. When the child is placed in this apparat-us it can not only by its action produce a vertical motion, but it can throw itself to either side, lean over and recover itself by the action of the corner springs c. Its freedom is absolutely less impeded than in the nurses arms, and its seat is easier. Below the seat I suspend a cot g, straps 71. connecting it with each of the above named straps e, as clearly seen in Fig. l. The straps t are connected with the sides of the cot g, and in addition thereto are two suspension straps z' z', attached to the head and foot of the cot at their center and suspended tothe frame a above by spiral springs k. In a cot thus balanced and supported the child when laid down can give itself motion sufficient for all practical purposes, while its motions can be endlessly varied without danger of upsetting or being thrown out. The great variety of motions given by the corner springs and cross are of the first importance in this structure.

Having thus fully described my i1nprovements in apparatus for tending children what I claim then is- The combination of the cross and corner springs attached to separate points of suspension at a distance from the center, and beyond the center of gravity with an infants seat constructed, arranged and combined in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

MARION J. WELLMAN. Witnesses:

H. BRADFORD, HOMER W. WELLMAN. 

